Riviera : The Fallen Land
by Finalage
Summary: Riviera, thousands of years later, has fallen into dispair and disrepair. Now, Ein, rejuvenated and sent back out, must somehow find a way to fix it. The begining of this story is really shoddy, did it a long time ago.
1. Prologue

I can't...I can't!

Im suprised. I just can't think of a single plot idea for my other story. Negima has fallen from my mind's favor. It has been spawning ideas upon ideas for Riviera : The Promised Land. This game (Just downloaded it...yes, I DOWNLOADED it. I don't own a copy.) I must steam the flow of ideas for this game if I wish to countinue my work! However, if won't do to think them through. I must write it down...sigh. Well...why not...

Discliamer : I do not, by any means, own Riviera : The Promised Land. As I mentioned earlier, I don't even own a copy of the game.

Warning : This is probably (actually, most likely) going to jump in rating. I don't know why, but this one seems to be me first story that will probably go all the way there. This story is rated as Adventure/Romance, as just about all of my stories are...however, I think it will have the personal extra sub catagory as humor. Watch out! If anything offends you, just read somthing else. Flame me if you like, I'll barbeque with them.

This has Ein with Serene, which was the ending** I **got.

+--+

_**Riviera : The Fallen Land **_

((Can't think of a better title, don't sue me.))

+--+

_**Prologue: **_

Ein felt his anger consume him. This was the last straw. First Serene was sacrificed, then this monster knocks both Fia and Lina out cold. Ein stood alone on the field against Seth-Rah. (If this where the game, imagine Seth-Rah with 3269 HP) Seth -Rah glowed with the after effects of Special, having K-O'ed Fia with it. But Ein stood tall. His anger burning higher and higher. His diviner, Einherjar, began to resonate.

"This is it for you..This is the REAL will of the gods."

He held up Einherjar high.

"DISARESTA!"

He struck one, twice, thrice.He gritted his teeth as he missed one...seven times! ((My char 420-510 damage each strike total damage was 3370))

As the last strike hit, Ein felt somthing inside him shatter, and he had to lean on Einherjar to keep from falling off the plain he was on and into an abyss. Seth-rah screamed, but it still managed to speak, even vibrating as death came upon it.

"WHO--WHAT ARE YOU?!"

Ein looked up, his anger was gone, he only felt exaustion. "I am Ein a Grim Angel. It is my sworn duty to pass judgement on demons."

"I SEE...MY POWER WAS GREAT, BUT YOUR WILL WAS GREATER..."

Seth-Rah began to shake more violently, as if it where trying to hold back the claws of death, to stay in one piece for awhile longer, say one more thing before dissappearing.

"MY EXISTANCE WAS BRIEF...SO BE IT."

With a final sigh, Seth-rah was enveloped in light, and broke apart. It was then that the maze of shadows began to crumble...

Cierra rushed over, no longer held back by the barrier of the battle. Ein exchanged a few words with her, and he picked up the unconcious Lina, and struggling a bit to get up, bent to get Fia too.

"You can't carry both of them!!" Cierra yelled over the rumbling, astonished he'd actually try to.

"Would you carry one of them?"

She fell silent then.

"I thought not." He grunted, picking up both the girls packs as well. "You carry Rose, your legs are longer than hers, you'll go faster. Just run. don't look back, just RUN!"

With that said, he adjusted his own pack as Cierra scooped up the black cat and took off. He felt a curious energy about him, but he ignored it. Adjusting the extra weight of both girls packs, Ein picked himself up off the ground and began to stride as quickly as he could, stepping heavily...

+--+

Ein awoke with a start.

"It's just the same darn dream..."He muttered.

He felt somthing move next to him and looked down. It was Serene, she was cluthing her sythe even in slumber, ready to srping up at a moments notice at any "ambush" from demons. This brought a smile to his face. Had it really been ten years? It felt like it was only yesterday he had picked up Einherjar, along with Lorelei and Skadi, (Yeah, you can get them in the game...but you need to beat both Ledah and Malice at level S to get both. Really hard to do on the com!!)plus fifty of Fia's special blend of potion, and said goodbye to Lina, Cierra and Fia, setting off with Serene.

Serene had carried her two favorite sythes (Infinite Arc, Silver Moon) and two claws. (Wavernzem ((Sp?)) and a special creation of Chapi's a glove of silvery cloth outside, and soft cotton on the inside, fasened with four silver sharp claws chased with gold for each glove. He had dubbed them "Moon Bane" Ein shook his head at the memory. Lina had been holding her bow, having come right from target practice, and she had accidentally hugged him with it pointed right out. Oww. Then she'd jumpped back, her sleeve caught on the bow string, and as she frantically apologized, she pulled back her hand and loosed an arrow right at his face. He had to quickly bend over ((Matrix style I think...to bad they don't know about that...)) and block the arrow with einherjar, so it would not fly away.

Cierra had then tried to heal him, and instead ended up making his clothes vanish. He had then just grabbed his pack and took out a towel, wraping it around his bleeding self as he shooed off her frantic apologies. Serene had begun laughing, and Lina, forgetting she had the bowstring still caught on her sleeve, had pointed at her accusing her of thinking this was funny, and at the same time, loosing another arrow right at her sisters head. Fia had whipped out her Rapier and..oh lord he remebered ever so vivdly how she had slashed at it, cutting it clean in half, and also cutting a heavy branch above her and Lina right through. Ein had lunged to push them out of the way and recieved the branch right in the back.

He had seen stars for at least an hour after that while Soala and Claude, along with an embarrassed Elder, tried to heal him and locate his lost clothes. Soala had finally done it, bringin with her all thier dinners. It seemed his clothes had gone fishing in the river, for thier where several trout caught in the folds of the cloth. He never knew his clothes could fish so well. Claude had remmarked he would like to take lessons from the paticular suit of clothes as soon as possible.

Ein shook his head to clear the flashback. Lorelei was resonating, but Einherjar and Skadi stood still. He grabbed the blade from his pack and stared at it. Normally diviners resonated when another diviner was near. But he had carried the three diviners for ten years, and they had gotten "used" to each other presence. No...there was another one around here...no, then all of them would be blinking like becons to tell anyone who cared Ein and Serene where here..this instance was special to Lorelei. Ein only could think one thing.

"Ledah..."

As if summoned, the very being Ein had named stepped out of the brush.

"Ledah?" Ein asked, stunned. Ledah was dead...but...here he was, more solid than any ghost, and Lorelei was now not only shining bright enough to blind, but was vibrating violently.

The Angel stepped into the light of the diviner. He had changed...

The neat, if worn clothes of black, along with a white ruff and red cape, had been replaced with a long sleeve shirt looking of fine silk, brand new, but stained with dirt and brush. He had a midnight blue cape with gold trimmings now, and no ruff. His hair was longer, and messy. Slightly taller and robust, but he was thinner, and his face drawn. He wileded at his side a blade that was blinking like a firefly that let off white light instead of green/yellow. He spoke, and Ein's eyes grew wide at somthing that suprised him even more than Ledah being there.

He had begun to smile.

"Ein..." He croaked. His voice seened rusty from missuse. "Ein...I knew i'd find you...god of shadows..."

"What?!"

+--+

_An hour later_.

"Ledah, if you countinue to eat like that, you'll choke..." Ein claimed, letting his voice trail off.

Ledah wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "I have not eaten in several days Ein. Even a Angel need norishment. Although, here, our norishment is not readily availiable. We need to make do. Even though we can survive a few days without and sustainment and feel notihng, we cannot do it countinually. I've been going weeks where I ate one day and starved six." He went back to demolishing a peice of meat, all diginity forgotten. Serene sighed and picked up her sythe.

"I should go scout. My turn anyway. I'll see if there is any game, because at this rate, he'll finish out all our suplies in one sitting and still need more." She stood up and walked off into the bushes.

Ein stared after her, but Ledah cleared his throat, causing Ein to whirl around. His neck cracked with the speed.

"Watch out there shadow king, you'll break your neck like that."

"Ledah, you've been calling me that for the past hour without any explination, explain yourself!"

Ledah took a gulp of water. "Gulp...sighhhh...ahh..well...I mean...this and that..."

"A straight answer Ledah!"

"Well...Do you know Ursula...and I abversely...we where suppossed to ..die right?"

"Yes." Ein answered simply.

"Well...Why did Ursula have to die?"

"Becuase Seth-Rah, the only remaining opposite god, died, she would have to follow. Without another to keep the power a balance, she had to die, or destroy balance."

"Right. But she did not die, in all these years, she, and I, are still alive. How?"

"I...I don't know...unless...Seth didn't die!?"

'WRONG!" He yelled, grining with a child-like glee. "YOU DID NOT DIE!"

Ein was taken aback by his friend's actions. He didn't understand heads or tails of this, and he said so.

Ledah's face became serious then. He looked Ein over.

He, just Like Ledah, had changed. The hard life of chasing demon after demon and living nowhere, always traveling, had made him leaner. It took away quite a bit of the "baby face" he had had. He was leaner, his jaw more pronounced, taller and more cut, defined. He moved differently now too, more cat-like, with the casual grace of a dancer. His eyes where more alert, they knew all the plants that where around them, wether they where poisionous, had healing properties, where spice, or just plain weeds, his ears twitched at the slightest sound, easily identifing it. In other words, he was stronger, faster, limber, smarter, leaner, just plain physically and mentally better.

_This Ein could handle any truth._

That was the only thought that ran through Ledah's head.

"Well Ein. When the dark Progentior's died, in order to keep the world balance of power, that power had to go somwhere. When Seth-Rah was defeated, that power too, had to go somwhere. Otherwise when the dark progentiors where destroyed, thus ending thier regeneration cycle, the scale would have tipped and all the evil would be banished, meaning all good was nothing, and therefore the world was nothing. Poof, we would all be gone in the smoke of logic."

_Poof...? Since when Had Ledah ever said...poof?_

Simply put, that power would have gone into the most powerful, and the nearest, vessel. I.E : YOU. Simply speaking, all the dark progentiors and the maze of shadws it self, have been reborn, and have been so for about three days, the only thing it's doing now is...reviving demons. It seems thier dissappering at a fantasitic rate..."

At this he shot a hard glance at Ein. Ein shrugged it off.

"Sprites and Angels cannot handle the power of Gods. Thier bodies are not made that way.If you spoke true, I would have been destroyed inside out years ago."

"The power of the dark god was busy with stuff, yah hear? Now however, it's work is winding down, it's starting to think of returning to it's body. In other words, it wants to come into to you in full now. So if you excuse me saying so, but if you don't do nothing, you will be...BLOWN TO SMITHEREENS!

+--+

Uhh...I honestly don't know what im doing...actually, I do...but...oh forget it.. Read and Reveiw please.


	2. Prolougue Two

Well, the prologue was cut short, sooo...here's part two? Watch out though, more insanity is liable. This is naught but a tiny drop, as I was trying for. Anyway, here we are.

A warning to all. This still might jump in ratings, if things go the way they seem to be. Consider this T+ as soon as chapter one comes along, at least, It probably will be.

Disclaimer: Those who might think I own Riviera :The promised land...you must be nuts! Finalage owns nada! ((No...I don't own that ethier... :( I also don't own a spell check on my com...how strange. ))

+--+

_**Prologue Part II **_

+--+

Cierra huddled over a caldron, in one of her moody spells. She held in her hand a dropper filled with a substance known ironically as "Angel Tears" One more drop of the stuff wouldn't hurt right? The clear liquid in her caldron looked like water, barely simmering. She sqeezed the dropper as Claude walked in.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!

"Cierra!! Not again!!"

"Oops!"

Claude shook his head. He turned around and saw a very twisted and melting caldron, and, a very sooty-faced Cierra, looking forlorn.

"Come on Cierra...how many times do I have to tell you, easy on the angel tears!! They are a very explosive substance in the wrong mixes!!"

_Angel tears my foot. Why the heck do they call them that anyway? Their just tears from some flying demon. Bet they look nothing like Ein's tears anyway...I mean...angels..._

She looked up at Claude. "Why give them such a fancy name anyway? Call them what they are. Demons tears."

Claude shook his head. "Even with a mate of your own, you still can't stop thinking about him ehh? What am I,... a sideshow?"

Cierra looked up, suprised. "No No! It's not you Claude...I love you...not anyone else."

"Somtimes I think that's only because you didn't get the chance..."

"No! All it is...im pissed they call them angel tears when they come from things that look anything BUT angelic."

"Sigh...Alright Cierra...just easy on those things. Soala used to use them alot when she started to...at least she says so..."

+--+

THWACK...THWACKTHWACKTHWACK!

"Owww...OWWWOWOWOWOWOWWW!"

"If you don't move faster, Lina will keep getting you!"

Gill bent over breathing heavily. The young man of around twenty-two was glad he was wearing a thick protective armor. It was fun to practice with Lina, but she would kill with those arrows if it where not for the dark leather armor. But that was exactly why he had fun. It was chalenging. He had yet to beat her, but he imagined he got closer every time. His sister, Moala, always watched, she was an archer too, training under Lina. She liked to use him as practice too, but he always defeated HER. Thats why SHE liked using him.

Lina shot another arrow, and Gill twisted to avoid it, it grazed his armor. The next one he ducked, getting in closer as he did so with his Iron Sword. He swung, but Lina swiftly dodged, as if smoke on water. She appeared behind him and dealt him four arrows there, winding him, and sending him flying foreward. He crashed into the trunk of a stout tree.

"Guh..."

Lina came up and pointed an arrow right at his throat.

"Better this time, but Lina says you're dead! Try again?"

_Try again? You bet that much..._

"This time, your dead meat!" He yelled, and lunged.

To close to shot an arrow, Iron Bow met Sword in a flurry of sparks.

+--+

Fia stood by a pot, watching the herbs and meat inside simmer. She heard the thwack of somthing hitting leather, and concluded her sister was at it again with bow and arrow against Gill. Why did the two of them just get married already and leave her to be free? Not like they could go on denying the fact. Fia tired of caring for her increasingly sloppy sister. Not that she'd ever let that show...

She had been conversing with her extremely old grandfather, who had given up the title of elder to his youngest grandaughter. ((Ironically I might add.)) He now spent hios remaining days ethier in bed or in a chair, peering out at the window. His advice was still sought by Fia, but he was growing increasing feeble and was plauged by memory loss. Between cooking and cleaning for three, Fia had little time for anything else. She brooded over her pot.

As she brooded, there was a knock on the door...

+--+

"Ledah..I swear..if you don't wipe that expression of your face...Im gonna explode."

"Your going to anyway if you don't do what I tell you, your power will overwhelm you, and then...KABOOM!"

Ein paled at the child like glee in his face as he said it, and his mouth set in a hard line as he heard Ledah say "kaboom" like that. This just could NOT be Ledah. Ein felt he should slap this impersonator...slap him so hard he'd fly into the future and get trampled by a mob of sprites or somthing...

"Ein go boom...that somthing we don''t wannt...right?"

Ursula in Heaven...he did not just say Ein go boom...he did not...Ein's hand rose...Einherjar in it...what he would not give for being able to slash down and cut off that smiling head!! Argh!!

Ledah smiled...and then frowned.

"Im sorry Ein...I just can't control my emotions you see...I just recently got them back...And...well...they seem to have...missed me. They make me over react to everything and anything."

"So NOW you explain why you've been acting like a complete idiot."

"Well, you where about to banish me."

"Banish you?!"

"You don't understand your situation, do you? The power of a god, plus that od the dark progentiors, rests in your hands. It was used for the rebuilding of the maze of shadows, and keeping Ursula alive by it's mere presense. It's job is near completion however, it is slowly returning to it's master. A master who is unable to hold that kind of power in his being. If you die absorbing the power, Ursula dies too. Not only that, but the power will be free to do somthing else...somthing that might not be too...pleasant for Riviera. That kind of power flying free is not a pretty thought."

"Why did this happen? Wasn't it all suppossed to disapear...fade away or somthing?!"

"It was...but...You forget HOW you defeated Seth-Rah. Fia and Lina, your battle companions...they were knocked out early in the battle, yes?"

"Yes...I fought Seth mainly by myself...why?"

"You where a singluar force against somthing that powerful. Normally, when one defeats somthing more powerful than oneself...ALOT more powerful...that power may decide to grant that person with itself. In other words, it might find you worthy of inhabiting."

Somthing like an odd dawning horror appeared on Ein's face. "...What are you..."

"You begin to understand I see. You were far more powerful than anyone anticipated..."

"Still...Banish you?"

"If you would have attacked me...im afraid there would not have even been a dust mite from my clothes surviving."

Ein Paled at that.

Serene huddled behind the bushes.

_Ein...a god? Hey...I understand he's an angel and all...but god? Having the power of a god and not the body to hold it all in...I don't think Im suppossed to eaves drop here...but this is Ein were talking about..MY Ein..._

"So your saying I gotta do what?"

"Go to the maze of shadows and make a god."

"This just gets wierder and wierder...ehh? I gotta make a god now...how nice...MAKE A GOD I SAY!"

"I know it sounds stupid...but you gotta..."

"I gotta make the demon god...yeah yeah...then what...oh I know...give him my power right?"

"Exactly!"

"I was joking...This is your plan ehh..."

"Yep."

"It sucks."

"Yep."

"Ooooookay...Maybe you did not hear me...It sucks."

"Yep."

+--+

Why do I need to explain everything about the prolouge? Oii! Me and my detail filling. Here we go...I will shorten it to simple terms.

Ledah convinces Ein to come with him to the Maze of Shaodws and make a god, they go, Ein makes the god, the god does not want the power, instead, he borrows it to change Ein's body. He makes him strong enough to hold the power, and then gives it back. Blah...ahh...it's to confusing to say it this way...

The New Sprite of Death, Nextriance (As he calls himself) was a failure to say the least. He was not a killer.

Oh sure, If provoked, he'd slauter you, but he was not a near-mindless killing machine that was the embodiment of evil. He was thoughtful and slightly skittish, if dark minded. He could be both extremely evil and suprisingly holy seeming. He was a mess.

He was more like a sprite in a word.

Having far to much noble intentions and kightly actiong in his demeanor, he refused Ein pouring power into him. He borrowed it and shaped Ein's insides. Making his body more like a gods than Grim angels interior wise. He then granted Ein six things. One, he strengthed Ein's Diviner and Ein himself exteriorwise. The second thing was he granted Ein what he had lost due to the shattering of the immortal rosary. An additional power boost and the ability to awaken. Third, he gave Ein what all gods have, and what he must have too, the curse of eternal life. Forth, he gave Ein somthing he'd never thought he'd get back. His wings. Then he knocked Ein out cold, claiming the gods would slumber for a couple thousand years to leave Riviera to it's own bidding...since the gods should have been dead anyway. And Ein was the first to go to sleep! Lastly. He gave him his blessing.

+--+

(((Those of you who are sticklers for games stats...lets just say this...

_**Ein**_

HP: 9000

STR: 600

MAG:600

AGL:600

VIT:600

EinherJar Priviously 600 Now 800

Disaresta 12 Hits. 8 targets front row, 4 target all.)))

Now...can we finally get to the real story?!

((Im yelling at myself again...))


	3. Chapter One

Ahh, here we are, finally, the true meaning of this story...Watch out, As I've said, things get more rough now. Prolougue is done with...

Discliamer : I do not own Riviera the Promised land copyrights. K? I don't even own a copy of the game.

If I had to guess, I'd say that the game would take place in our own BC 200's- AD 200's. Kapeesh?

"Character Speech"

_Character Thougths_

_"Telepathic Speech" _ --If I ever get to use that one.

((( My comments)))

_Background Info things _

(Story releated snipets)

Chapter One : Land of the Fallen.

_Twenty Two hundred years or so afterward..._

BEEP BEEEEEP BEEEEEEEEeeeeeep...

"Watch were your walking yah jerk!" The man who claims this picks himself off the floor, where he had just been thrown after bumping into another man. The man responds quickly, but his words are slurred.

"Ahh, shhut yer yap yah ssson of a-"

The one who spoke first slugs the other across the face. This leads a sidewalk brawl...

In an alleyway, a lone figure stands leaning against a building. She is the sole audience to this fight, for the cars zooming overhead, nor thier dirvers, pay no mind to the earth, lest they reunite with it in an unfriendly way.

The girl smiles sadly as one of the combatants pull out a Teeoseefive. She turned her back so she would not see the grisly end to this fight. (A TOC-5 was a common, if old, model of blaster. It was invented in 2186, although still used today.)

Cienra was not the kind of girl most would find attractive, and she knew it. She even reveled in it. If anyone asked her what she looked like she'd delight in saying ; "fat, ugly, and a druggie to boot"

She turned her back just as she heard the shot. She sucked on a metal cylinder and ignored the smell of burning flesh. She moved deeper into the alley, cursed, went back out and came back with a cardboard case of some sustanence or other. She repoitioned herself just as the cylinder in her mouth gave a beep. She shook it and put it right back wher eit was, but it beeped again.

Muttering, she took it out of her mouth and flung it away. She'd have to buy another pack of them...she was out. Malboro only filled they containers half-way now a day it seemed. They used cheap tin in thier cyliders too.

Screw it. She took up a "stripped" bottle of the unknown substance (most likely some kinda beer), and downed half of it in one go..

+--+

"Im telling you...we may yet have a chance to re-take our business."

"Meat" Sydney looked at Dave closely. Was he nuts?

"Dave, my man...you know how tight Craft holds the riens. Keep talking like that and somone will think your serious...

"Meat" Syndey let his eyes roll up the the ceiling. He was called meat for his size..but honestly, he thought somtimes most people thought it was beacause he was stupid. He was a top grade student before dropping out. He dropped out because his mother.

"I AM serious Sid...look at me...LOOK at me!"

Sydney reluctantly lowered his eyes from the ceiling, where they had rolled. He allowed them to resettle upon the lanky form of Dave.

"Listen man. I know it'll work. My family has run this bussiness for generations. You don't think my pop damn near killed me when he learned what I did? And with Craft acting all "generous" with us, manufactuing sympathy where thier isn't none! I know he's laughing at me, no-one laughs at me Sid! You know that."

Syndey looked at him. "Dave..you where once the boss, but forget it! Craft's to sly now...he calls the shots! Why are you acting like this? He's left you alone, he's even given your family protection and things...why are you so bitter man?"

" 'Cause it's an act. When we least expect it, he's gonna wipe us out. Me, my family...even you, meat! Help me take him down while he's still acting all nice!"

"I don't know man..."

"Come on meat...you where my main man...don't let me down now..."

"What about Kindred?"

"Kindred? That two bit swindiler? He was higher in rank so I could keep him close yah see, keep you friends close and your enemies closer, the golden rule! YOU wher my main man Meat..."

"...Alirght Dave...I'll help...but you'd better be right about Craft..."

"I know im right about Craft...I know im right."

+--+

It was dark. Tonight it was forecasted to rain heavily, the worst rainstorm this year. The clouds had already gathered, and even without them, there was no moon tonight, and the air was foreboding. Ceinra had not moved from her poition since she had gotten there, and it was hours after the shooting. She glanced at her wrist implant. The storm watch had turned into a warning. She tapped the display and it showed that it was 9:48 PM. The storm warning was sceduled from 10:00 PM - 9:00 AM Tomorrow. She pushed herself off the wall. Time to get home. Otherwise she'd get wet, and she hated to get wet in the clotes she was in. They took HOURS or even DAYS to dry...She picked up her cardboard carton by it's handle and started off, not showing any indication that the several discarded bottles that now littered the alley had been consumed by her. She nearly bumped into somone dressed in black, who had been hangin at the edge of the alley oposite to the shooting.

"If you mind moivng?" She asked, stopping.

"No...I don't think so...you know what I mean?"

Her eyes wandered and came to rest on the man's shoulder. There was an insignia there...one awfully familiar...

"Ha...that's the first think you look at...even after drinking enough to know out maybe three guys twice your size...no...scratch that. Two guys your size. Your a big one..aren't you?"

He meant that as an insult, but of course, Cienra took no offence. Instead, she cursed herself for leaving her own RIV-9 at home.

"What's it to you? Craft finally stop acting all goodie-goodie? Come to kill me? It'll be welcome you know. I'm already living in hell anyway."

The man made no comment, now did he give any notion of hearing, yet she knew he'd absorbed the words. He put two fingers in his mouth and whistled. Four others appeared out of nowhere. She knew the drill.

"The standard ambush pack for disruptive citizens of little or no ability to defend themselves, or estimated as such. Five goons armed with the usual two blasters, one energy kinfe, a packet of flash bombs each. I guess im dead then...hmm?

+--+

"Hmm...Indigo hair, an "I don't care" attitude and, above all, a knack for identifing weapons...yep no doubt...she's gotta be a great grandkid..."

Sitting on a roof and wearing a black sleeveless with a hole in the back, plus green sweats and hiking boots (Timberland style) was one person. Ein.

By miraculous coincidence, Ein had been sent on a simple assiginment once waking up three years ago. Find his decendants. He had searched the world, and seen how it had morphed from a peaceful and loving society, to this ruthless and harsh world. Somtimes he could not help creating a few "miracles" to help people see hope.

Nevertheless, at the end of three years, he had traveled all over, and still, no sign of his line.

Until now.

The girl might be heavier set, but he could see the unique features that Serene had plain as day on the girl's face. He marveled that, despite most likely being a grandaughter of maybe two dozen greats or more, she had so many features akin to Serene, and, him.

He eyed the weapons the men where taking out, odd things he had come to respect for thier efficiency and deadly power. He'd go for the element of suprise then...He folded his black wings in, making them dissapear. After he had woken up and had attempted to ream out Nextriance, (It had been Ein who got reamed out in the end..mentally AND physically.) the god had explained Ein's wings where different from the average angels. He could make them dissappear by folding them up. However...he was advised he wore shirts with a hole in the back. Otherwise the unfurling of the wings would make one for him...

+--+

Ten blasters came out, all trained on thier single victum, yet Cinera still had her mouth about her.

"A bit much for just me.."

No answer, just the whine of weapons charging.

"Oh well, I'll see ya'll in hell then..won't I ?..."

At that moment, several things happened at once.

Ten shots fired, and none met thier mark. Instead, something dropped right out of the sky, and from this thing, a flash of crimson and gold, which passed right through all ten shots, causing them to detonate, and sending the shooters flying back.

Cienra only could blink. One second there was nothing but a blasters mouth in front of her...now there was the back of some guy with a big hole in his shirt back, and five guys on the floor. What the hell happened in between...? Not only that...but he was carring some really weird..._things_...in his hands. One was red and the other gold, but further than that, she couldn't tell...they looked to weird.

"Alright back there?"

She blinked again. "What the heck just happened..?"

The guy turned around to look at her. "I just detonated thier shots. You couldn't see?"

"Noo...I only saw you magically appear outta the devil knows where..."

He grinned. "I jumped down."

One the men groaned, cutting off Cienra. The guy turned around to adress him, leaving the girl to think :

_The fire escape's been blown up by the average hood._

_It's only there from the fourth floor up...He jumped down from four flights up?!_

+--+

"God my head hurts...what the fk happened..?"

"I happened."

The man pushed himself up off the wall and stared at the guy who had just appeared. He was holding some sort of wierd glowing metal.

_That's what blocked the shots...shit's probably radioactive glowing like that..._

Was his only thought as he smirked.

"What do we have here...a newbie! Where'd you get your glowing shit from? It don't look like your is big enough for it to come out there..." His smirk grew wider, and some who where getting up started to smile as well.

"It's obviously not a pile of my defacation. I guess you've never believed in old stories.."

"What? What old stories?"

"Of demons and heroes...dragons and fame."

"Those bedtime fairytales? Old movie-style stuff? You kidding me?"

"No. Im not. Ever believe in miracles? Angels? I guess not. Well, hi, how you doing, im an angel."

"Wha..?" The man blinks, then busrts out laughing. "You crazy boy! You an angel..where yo'r wings?"

Ein smiles. "Right here."

Einherjar and Lorlei flash out, and both weapons pass through the three who had gotten up. They fall, cut into nice even pieces.

(((Nice scene ehh? One reason I did not elaborate on it.)))

Some blood spurts, but Loerlei comes up and blocks it before it soiled Ein's clothes. Ein executed a neat turn to re-apply his attention to Cienra, sheathing Lorelei and Einherjar in the process.

Ceinra looked at him. She smiled slightly. "Angel ehh? Dirty underhanded trick to confuse him like that...but what in this world isn't dirty and underhanded? You coulda killed him without it though...

Ein looked at her. "I was not tricking him...I was telling him the truth. He could know it becuase he was going to die if he did not bring you in dead...and he didn't. I was only saving him being killed in a more humiliating way..."

She down the alleyway.

"And it's safe to tell me because your gonna kill me too?" She asked, missing the point. Ein whistled and made a motion of his hand passing over his head.

"Passed right over you, the point did. No, im not gonna kill you, why would I stop the people killing you if I wanted you dead? And don't give me that idiocy about myself revealing my secret."

The girl fell silent then. Ein opened his mouth, but a streak of lightning and a rudely loud roll of thunder interupted him. He looked up. "Rain..?"

"Oh shit. I forgot about that anoucement in all the excitement. We are gonna get drenched."

"Not at all..." Ein claimed, smiling. "Will you go crazy If I display that your world is extremely dissillusioned to think magic and monsters false?"

She stared at him. "I don't think so..."

"Good, because, if you did not notice, it's already raining."

She blinked, and then looked up. It was raining alright, but none of it was touching the pair of them. She smiled.

"Invisible electron shield or somthing? Your rich, not heavenly."

Ein sighed, almost rolling his eyes. It was a high tech world...he'd forgotten.

"Fine, I'll have to show you somthing else then...no?"

+--+

I was a bit to tired to elabotate on this one.


	4. Chapter Two

Ehh? Im thinking...im thinking, im thinking, im thinking...the storyline seems more and more absurd...wait! I've got it...perfect...

Disclaimer : I do not own Riviera the promised land rights, niether of them.

Chapter 2 : Tempting ...Wait..didn't fate die? Who you tempting?! ((Tempting all but Fate.))

+--+

(Shall we go back in time those two thousand years that I so rudely sent you foreward to? Read on, it'll be somwhere in this chapter, and the rest. Look for a big RFL.. )

"Your not suppossed to do this to somone without warning!!"

Ceinra was...well, not exactly content with what was going on. She was being carried "prey style" in the air by the same guy who had "sliced up" the would-be assailants. He had simply smiled when she had claimed he was rich, not heavenly, and promptly sprouted wings, picked her up, and before she could even squeak, had them both up in the air.

"Well, I told you what I was, and you did not believe me when I stopped the rain, so..."

"Why me...why?? What does god want with me!?"

"Alot im sure, but right now,your not with me under his orders. You met me because I've been looking for you."

"...Me...this just gets wierder and weirder...doesn't it? Okay then...What do YOU want with me?"

"Maybe a DNA test, but that would not do much good when it's been over twenty centuries.."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Im talking about relavtives."

"Huh?"

"Look, where is your house? Everywhere looks the same..."

"From the sky, yeah. There all built the same way to do alot of things. Don't you learn that in school? Differences in houses spawn a want for having more, having somthing better than the other-"

"Okay, okay, I've heard all that posion junk before. But I never went to school miss, Im and angel, remember?" He indicated with his head, the slowly flapping wings.

"Okay then..."

"Should I land so you can show me your home?"

"Why...?"

"I need to do some stuff there...think of it as crisis intervention."

"..."

+--+

"She went out how long ago dad...?" Dave looked around the living room. Or what could be called the living room in this condo. It was a mess, as usual. Cans, bottles, cardboard boxes...

"About...9 hours ago..." Johnathan watched his son scrutinize the room. Why should he care if it was messy? His fault they lost the bussiness in a gang war.

Dave asked what time it was and a sickly friendly voice answered him. "One A.M"

"Four in the afternoon she leaves, and when does she normally come back?" Dave asked his father, knowing full well he had about a 2 chance of knowing.

Johnathan, called "Sloppy Joe" in his old days as boss, had lived up to his name well in the recent years, but when it came to his grandaughter, he was sharper than even he gave himself credit for. "Around twelve to twelve thirty. She's been starting to run into trouble recently, so I told her eleven at latest today, but maybe she ran into trouble again and had to cool down. The doctors may call her a physical nightmare, but she can handle herself boy. Somtimes I think she handles better than you do. I think the family genes skipped a generation..."

"Dad, It was not my fault! I had no choice!"

"Yeah yeah, shut your trap will yah? It's over and done with, dust." The man turned away from his son and asked him : "Whats the weather like, boy?"

"It's raining worse than is has in months." He replyed, caught off guard by the seemingly random question.

"Wierd, normally when it's raining, the girl comes in early. Okay, now I might feel slightly worried. But im not. The girl's tough enough..."

"Did she carry her arms?"

"Ehh? Hmm...well yeah she always does...wait...no...she didn't..not today..."

"See what I mean dad? One girl, who happens to be th daughter of an ex crime organization leader, one that does not know hand-to-hand, weak in all physical means except marksmanship...Dad, I know you always resented the fact I lost the bussiness, but I've been working to get it back ever since, that's why im almost never home. But Craft found out somhow, I was working secretly, but he found out...only today, but he'll move fast, knowing him, I might just be seeing some of his work already, if she hasn't come back..."

"Shut it. She's a damn good shot, and yeah, she might be useless without the gun, but she'll ...make it...Wait...your going against Craft? Sh!+hle...NOW im worried. You just had to find your guts NOW? After ten year you find your gts right when it's best that you DON'T? IDIOT!!"

+--+

"Company."

"I know..They must be really persistant hmm? I wonder if the others where found in that alley...I tried to cut them neatly so they'd transport well..."

"Shut up, please...shut up...your gonna make ME sick...and that's hard to do..."

Cienra and Ein peeked out from a thin alley way to the otherside of the street. There were six men surrounding the large condo complex. At least, there where six at this entrance. Who knew how many others where hiding around?

Ein taped Ceinra urgently, and whispered:

"Hey...hey...hey!"

She spun around at the last call. "Not so loud! Theyll make swiss cheese outta you."

"Well, I called three times...And do you really think they could take me? You need another lesson in swordsmanship?"

"Whatever kinda fighting you do, these guys are higher up than the goon that where sent after me."

"Well then...do you know to use this darn thing?! I can't make heads or tails of it..."

He held out one of four "blasters" he had "confiscated" from the dead bodies of his victums. Ceinra's eyes lit up and she grabbed the one in his hand, and indicated on on his belt. He tosse dit, looking curiously at her expression.

"Must have been hidden, these...there the same model as mine...ha, you wanna know how to use it? I'll show you. Point this end at what you want gone, and press this. This one you can forget about for now. That one too, that's the overload."

She pointed her two weapons and recklessly called out :

"Hey beanbags! Heads up!"

Of course, they turned around, what other stupid thing would over confident mafia goons do? The four in the middle where instantly make into living sponges. The other two managed to roll out of the way, pulling there own guns at the same time. However, they never got to raise them, as several bolts make them into pungent pools. Cienra turned around looking at Ein, who held the other to guns, still smoking.

"Thought you said you didn't know how to operate those? That was nearly six shots at once from each of those babies...most be as hot as hell to hold right about now..there not meant for that kind of quick shooting...dang they where all in the middle of the eyebrows or between thier armpits too! Where did you get that kind of aim..or timing?"

"Timing, I got by watching you shoot and studing the delay. Aim...Im a marksman, but not with one of these..." He waved the gun. It let out a shot that splashed against a fire escape above when he squeezed it mid wave. Showers rained down on him.

"Opps...I still don't have the hang of this thing...even though I've only been holding the darn thing for about a minute...and by the way, couldn't you have thought of somthing better than beanbags?"

Ceinra couldn't help herself. She started laughing.

+--+

_**R F L**_

"Okay, so were going back to Elendia, and then into the world tree...then from there we have to travel through the sanctums and finally go through heavens gate and reach it's oposite, go to the maze of shadows, travel all three levels to get to the forth, and supervise it's building while Ein does...what?"

"Make a new god, doi." Leadah claimed.

"Im a bit confused on that part..." Serene pulled a face that said plainly what she thought of the angel's sanity.

"Hey, hey, I may sound, look and act crazy, but I told you why already. It does'nt mean I AM crazy."Ledah looked at her slightly

"Seems reason enough to me to call you crazy." Serene responded.

"Grr..."

Ein decided it was time for him to be reason and stop a potential fight.

"Listen, true or not,Serene, we have not seem a demon in months, there beocming scarce due to our efforts. I think I'll enjoy seeing Elendia again, and...well, it's what we were going to do anyway, right?"

+--+

"What the hell was THAT now?" Dave spun around to stare at the door.

"Blaster fire boy, can't you hear?"

"But who?"

"Who you think, your friend Craft's goons! If your daughter was alive before, she'll be dead now, I said she had no gun, so it could not have been her!"

A couple minutes passed...

The door opened, and Dave's eye's grew wide.

A boy stepped in. He must of been out of some old fashioned "lookie-its-Hi-definition-and-super special-effected" trash they showed in the twenty first century. He was wearing some sort of black sleeveless and dark green shorts with brown boots. He held a blaster in each hand, and looked like he did not know one end from the other. He was tallish, slim but toned and carring a look that said he knew all the world's former glory, and now knew all it's evil.

Odd look for a guy who looked no older than eightteen.

"Who the he-" Dave began, but he suddely found the boy had taken three steps and had a blaster muzzle to his head.

"I don't know these things well, but Im pretty sure this is not a safe place for your for your head to be." Ein stated quietly. He then spoke to the back of him. "People you know, or are they more target practice?"

The girl had appeared through the door.

"My dad, but he's honestly not really much of one..."

Ein frowned a bit at that, but lowered his arm.

"Who the he-" Dave tried to finish his last sentence, but it was again cut off.

"I suggest you be silent for a bit my good decendant." Ein told him, a slight smile at Dave's frown.

"Decendan-"

"I thought I told you it would be best to be quiet? Most likely, there are more of your friends hanging around."

Finally Dave fell silent.

"How many other entrances does this building have, and how many exits?" He directed this to Ceinra.

"About four different entrances, about two fire escapes and three fire escape passage ways..."

"About nine different ways for them to sneak up on us huh? Not to mention the windows...Im going. If you hear fire, it's ethier me or them. No better than demons, poor guys...well it's better me than thier bosses.."

Ein simply passed the girl, who have moved out of the doorway, and dissappeared.

"...Hi dad..."

The man just blinked. He pushed a shameful thought from his mind.

"Where the heck did you manage to fish _him _out? Normally guys like that come only with..."

Ceinra looked disgusted, and showed it in the look she cast at her father.

"I didn't _fish_ him out from anywhere. He came at the right time to crash a party between me and Craft's friendly party go-ers."

Dave just blinked again. Her grandfather however, spoke for the first time since she had appeared.

"Well, she had me worried this time, but I did say she'd come through. She did. That's all to it."

The sound of blasts sounded far off somwhere, however, they were but brief.

"Im guessing Craft's men found him." Dave claimed.

"No, he found Craft's men." Ceinra said.

More fire, closer this time.

"Comming here huh?" Joe asked conversationally. He'd been around gunfire his entire life, so had his son and grandaughter, but his son never seemed to grow up and get used to the stuff.

More fire, even closer. Dave moved to bolt the door...

BOOM.

The door blew open, scattering dust everywhere. Three men litterally flew in, slamming into the oposite wall. More poured in backwards, pointing guns at the doorway. They paid no attentoin to those they'd been assigined to kill, only the one who was on the other side of the door. He had not walked through yet...

Somthing flashed by, and before any could react, there was a figure in the doorway, shooting with deadly accuracy.

_+--+_

_This chapter is taking much to long, so it is cut short here, please do not mine this, but this is chapter two. In all of it's imcomplete and unpolished-ness._


	5. Chapter Three

Okay, so I got a plea. I had too. I had too continue at least something to help the plea. Here we go. I do not, In anyway, own Riviera, the Promised Land. I warn you all, it's been a while..my style has changed...

+---+

Chapter 3: Cardinal Sins

+---+

As the smoke cleared, a lone figure stepped through the doorway, holding blasters that were litterally glowing a cheery red. Joe stared at them. How the heck was he holding those things anyway? They must be a billion degrees! Looking up into the face, he saw set eyes that were staring stright at Dave, almost in disgust. He opened his mouth and let that quiet and calming voice speak, but it was tinged with the disgust that showed in his face.

"I leave for what, two thousand years or something? Look what I get, my whole family line's gone downstream. So has the quality of life in the world. Is this what we all are suppossed to call equality and peace? Houses that all look the same and these things?"

He held up one of the blasters. The other one he handed to Cienra, or at least, he tried to, She just looked at the gun.

"No thanks hot shot, you want me to burn my skin off?"

"Suit yourself..."

Ein stepped right up to Dave, who moved back until he was up against the wall, but Ein kept coming until he was almost nose to nose with the man. Ein jabbed a finger towards the pile of men in the hallway.

"There are most likely more where they came from. I wouldn't be surprised if there will be a whole slew of them by the time I go outside...now tell me, why are these people _really_ after you my good decendant?"

"Why the hell do you keep calling me decendant...and what the hell do you mena you left for two thousand years, you just walked out the door!"

"Ohhhh this is going to take a while..."

+----+

_**R F L**_

Elendia had hardly changed one bit...

The flowers were out in full bloom, and Ein easily identified each one. Maybe he'd pick a few and make a bouquet later on to give Serene...when he had time that was. The winged woman had been ahead of him and Ledah, but now, as they all were about to walk through the borderline of the town, she held back. Ein turned back to her.

"What's the matter?"

Serene, looking up at the sign that proclaimed the village's name, was shaken out of her revire. She weakly smiled and shook her head, walking under the sign to cath up with him.

"Oh....nothing important really."

Of course, he mind was in chaos, thinking a completely different tirade of thought.

They are here. Those three, both friends and enemies. The ones who had not gotten Ein, and had been semi-lukewarm to her ever since, before she left with him. It had been ten years, but still....who knew what might happen. They needed to enter the world tree, which was just beyond, something Elendia based it's entire town upon. The great tree. Yet, to do that, they would need to go through the past, those three girls.

That is what ran through Serene's mind as she walked, hand's carressing the sythe she was holding. Ein had stowed his three weapons away within the folds of his clothes of the depths of his bag, and apeared unarmed. Ledah carried his bright-greenish blade, perhaps the most normal looking Diviner she had ever seen. It made her remember when she had tried to used Scadia,, because it was a so close to a Sythe. The weapon had murdered and stolen the souls of all her fellow villagers, but that was in Malice's hands, as Ein had reminded her. A weapon is only a weapon. It can do no good or evil by itself. It is only as just or corrupt as the hand who holds it. He was prone to say weird things like that...

Ein. That same Ein was looking around with a regined in delight at the sights and sounds of the town as they walked. It had never been this busy before. His eyes darted from one patch of greenery to another. She knew he was probably going to come up to her later on with some bunch of flowers for some weird cheesy reason...and yet, as much as she acted like she didn't need them, it nearly always made her blush just a tad. Ein had his ways. Now he was traveling with this revived clown, to go do some harebrained scheme like create a god and transfer his powers to it. Hell if she understood any of it, but where Ein went, she roamed right along with him. He was _**hers**_. No one elses.

An arrow whizzed near her head, and, before she even noticed the threat, Ein was already at her side, slashing it down. He also was in time to had Einherjar crash against another man's blade. The man had been running and, needless to say, he had had his blade sticking straight up to use as a mechanism for fending off arrows. His blade had not meant to hamr them, which is why Ein only blocked it, instead of slashing the guy right in half, which Serene was sure he could do if he had needed too. Spinning around with her axe, she saw a woman about her age running up to the man. She was slightly out of breath by the time she reached them. She put her hands on her knees, panting a bit.

"Ha...ha...Gill! You idiot, you almost....knocked over someone! If you were faster you...wouldn't...need...to run...like that!"

Letting out a deep breath in a blow, the woman stood up straight. Serene recognized the orangeish eyes and hair almost instantly. Still lightly clothed, (To put it mildly in her opinion.) the old travel mate had matured in her looks a bit, and now seemed to favor deep green as a proper attire. It did her more justice than yellow did, it seemed. She seemd to be a bit warmer too, or perhaps it was muscle from training?

"Wow..I am not as young as I used to be, and I'm not even old! Sorry whoever you are, I just..."

She paused as she locked eyes with Serene. Unlike Lina, Serene favored a more concealed look, she still stuck to dark colors, but used them a bit more elaborately, going for a mixture of functionality and style. She had long pants on, simply because they were betterin a forest where anything can try and bite or scratch you on the legs, the same logic was applied to arms. Yet, besides that, she mainly dressed the same, what she had worked, and why should you try and fix something that's not broken? The woman gasped a bit.

"Oh wow....don't tell me I'm seeing what I think I'm seeing."

_If this really is Lina, then she seems to have dropped her annoying habit of speaking in the third person._

"It is! Lina sees Ein and Serene!"

_Oh wait, forget that._

"....Hello Lina. Nice day huh?"

"Ein! You look...nice."

_Oh so she goes straight to Ein huh!?_

"....Hello is the proper word Lina, but I think by now you know that...but answer Serne, she said hello..."

As always, Ein was polite and calm, and his manner achived the right effects, Lina turned and, abashed, returned Serene's hello.

"Lina still needs work I see, Hi Serene. The day's nice for shooting this guy over here!"

Aiming an arrow at Gill, she fired, watching as Gill nimbly dodged it. He sprang at her, but she danced away, shooting arrows. Ein watched her with slight interest, but before Serne could formulate a reason why, Ein answered her unspoken question.

"What's the matter Lina, why are you moving so slowly?"

Spinning around, Lina used her box to block Gill's iron sword, and looked at Ein.

"Huh?"

"You where always the fast one..but you seemed slower than I remember."

Serene rolled her eyes.

"It's been ten years dim-wit. You really think she'll still have all that bounce left?"

Ein turned around to her.

"Have _you_ lost any speed? I don't think so."

"We've been fighting just about every day..."

"....Just as she's been training every day. Don't tell me you're going easy on him huh Lina?"

Gill turned around to answer, but had to twist and duck to avoid a couple arrows.

"Nah, Just I've worn her out that's all, she's slower every day! Yike!"

Gill narrowly managed to jump out of the way of an arrow headed en route for his kidney.

"Oh? Who's calling Lina slow? You better not be, Gill, Or Lina'll show you just what being swiss cheese feels like!"

+----+

Ahh, so I do this. Okay, this will help, no? I furthered the story along a bit. I might continue now. Celestianne has brought this story back into my focus....perhaps, but tell me what ya'll think.


	6. Chapter Four

Maybe I continue, maybe not. This is here in case I get a review, if I did, then of course, you are all seeing this, which means I got a review and decided to continue the madness. Beware! Oh, and a side note..Now that I have this story back in my sites, if I do have it back in my sites, then I am still pondering the thought of making this an "M" rating. Just saying.

I do not own Rivera: The Promised land, although now, I do own a copy of the game! *Extremely late, yes I know...hey, I saw it, and I had five dollars, as I was with a cousin and had pooled an amount of money for us both to get some games, I had five dollars left on my side and there is Rivera, the promised land, sitting there under the glass in the used section, practically begging me to pick it up. They were getting rid of all their GBA games that very day, and the store was about to close, any one of those GBA games was begging...so I used my part of money on GBA games, plus the one game I'd been begging for since it came out, FF3 DS. Yet, I get off topic. Hi ho!

+---+

_**Chapter Four:**_ Ein, the time bomb.

+---+

_**R F L**_

Ein dodged under a thrust and sent the blade flying skyward, only to spin around and deflect another, thinner blade from trying to stab at his neck. He ducked under a couple of arrows that were loosed at his head, slicing them neatly in pieces with Lorelei while Einherjar raged a battle with the Holy Saber It had deflected just earlier. A second burst of arrows, form a different angle this time, make Ein twist and dance like a snake in hot water, kinking itself. Not an arrow grazed him as he clashed blades with an iron sword, Lorelei swinging to send the Holy Saber flying out of the woman's hand who held it. Ein narrowed his eyes at her.

She was slower too. Fia scrambled for her blade as Ein easily beat back Gill, and shot up in the air to avoid a volley of arrows from Molan. He watched as she searched for it in the bushes. She, unlike her sister, had obviously put on some weight, although not much. Perhaps it came from standing in front of a stove cooking all day, but her battle prowess had noticeably slackened too. Ein's eyes grew wide as he spun, foot over foot in a tornado like whip of a dance, to avoid and counter act a spell that came from seemingly nowhere, Cierra had decided to make her presence known in this battle it seemed. Ein smiled, jumping up and charging at Lina, who continued to fire at him with a more deadly aim as he drew closer, but still, not an arrow came close to touching him as his golden blade flashed out. When he came too close, Lina began wielding her bow like a club, slashing at him with it, but to no avail, just as Gill reached him to try and slash at his back, Ein clubbed Lina soundly on the head, knocking her out, He then spun and grabbed Gill's sword with the hand that held Lorelei, and, flipping Einherjar so he held it's blade, conked the man soundly on the head hard enough to make him see stars and fall. Ein swayed like a tree in the breeze to dodge the next onslaught of arrows from Molan, but she seemed to realize her attempt was fruitless, yet, she was smiling. A noise at Ein's back made him turn around, Lorelei's blunt end flashing out to catch Fia in the midriff with a blow that sent her backwards, knocking the wind out of her. He charged Molan and made quick work of her, she wasn't as battle hardened as Lina, and nearly dropped her bow when Ein began his charge. Finally, Ein sped towards the vulnerable witch, who only managed to, in her haste, set herself nearly on fire. He knocked her out almost dutifully, extinguishing the flames instantly. Ein then stood, barely breathing...

...and spun to have Einherjar collide with a Silver Moon. He smiled at Serene, who returned the look with a feral smile of her own. Detaching her weapon from his, they began a quick, brilliant dance of with gold and deep blue flashing from either players hands, colliding, pulling back, slashing empty air, twisting and turning like grass in high wind to avoid maneuvers, sparks flying as the collided again, all the while, both of them laughing their heads off. There was no parry here. None. Neither party gave nor gained any quarter as they beat at each other for a solid ten minutes, blades stabbing at the eyes of on lookers who had gathered to watch the"reunion" of sorts for the party of heroes. Ein slowly, ever so slowly, began to gain quarter on Serene then, like she knew he enevitably would. Her smile became wider as she began to pull ploys, trying to regain lost ground, but Ein continued to press forward until she was only about two feet from a house wall. Flashing his blade out, it stopped, quivering as it lay centimeters from her neck, resting on her collar bone. A quick punch of a free hand to her head made her give him a wry smile. She was tougher than the others. Her tongue flashed out at him.

"Oii. You've got me pressed up against this building, and you give me a pansy whack on the head?! Be a man! Whack me good and get it over with!"

Ein, following orders, gave her a good whack, and she fell. He looked down at her, sorry for a few seconds before he spun around and, bringing Lorelei back out, blocked a downwards slash from Ledah with both his weapons coming in an "x" formation.

"Oii. You want to fight me too? Should have joined in the original battle Ledah."

Ledah gave him a twisted smile of his own.

"Hah. I just want a rematch for last time, you caught me by surprise then. Not this time though!"

Ein jumped out of the way as Ledah detached his blade from Ein's and slashed down at a different angle. Einherjar and Lorelei both shining, they clashed with Ledah's greenish blade as another battle dance erupted between the two angels. Ein wasn't tired, but he wasn't fresh either, and Ledah was as sharp as ever in battle, even if he was awkward outside it. Back and forth the two went, for this battle was one not of even parry where one could get no quarter, but of one where both contestants stole, gained, lost and were robbed of it. Ducking under a horizontal slash, Ein forced Lorelei up to clash with the blade, and flashed Einherjar out, but Ledah jumped back. Ein hefted Einherjar and slashed it down at Ledah's shoulder, and while he deflected that, Lorelei's blunt end headed for his gut. It slammed home, finally breaking this confrontation open, for Ledah staggered back and Ein showed no mercy, lunging at him to close the distance and continue the assault. In the end, Ledah's jumping in only proved his foolishness, for his head ended up under Ein's boot, and his own former weapon, Lorelei, pointed at his throat.

"Had enough?"

"Ahh fine, fine, you win, you win, now wouldja' get off my head?"

"Sure thing."

+---+ +---+

"Do you understand me or do you need me to go over it again?"

Ein stood with his back to the tree of them, looking around the dirty living room and feeling a building sorrow. Time really was the eroder of all, even virtue and faith. Wings unfurled, he looked back at the father of Cienra. He could already tell from looking at him that Ein and Serene's genes must have come from the mother's side, yet, the mother was dead. He watched out the corner of his eye as Ceinra's grandfather just gaped at his wings. Forming a ball of light in his hands, he turned around.

"Well, do you understand, or do I need to go over it again? It's a simple question."

Ceinra looked at her father, who just stood there, if it were not for him breathing, he'd be a statue.

"Crap shit. You're not gonna get an answer from him fly boy. I'm going up to bed. Stay your disgusting ass here and rot if ya like dad, but answer the dude at least."

Slamming him in the back with a hand as she passed, saying this, she walked away, stepping gingerly over a few corpses as she made her way to the stairs. Dave, who had pitched lightly foreward from his daughter's pound on the back, continued to stare. He seemed brain dead. Finally, just when Ein felt as if he was going to need to get some popcorn and wait this out, the man opened his mouth and croaked:

"The hell makes you think I'm gonna believe this shit flying from your mouth in the first place?"

Ein sighed, looking down at the floor. This world was definitely not the world he had saved with his friends all those years ago. Sprites were never this way before...

"Wings, my swords, and this ball of light might help, but otherwise, if you really want to know, I can help you get an honest life, a successful, honest life. I can show you a way to heal this broken world, for only your family and a precious few others can accomplish it...together..."

+---+

_**R F L**_(Two in one? Surprised? Don't be.)

They really had to hurry, if all of this nonsense the Ledah had told him was true...still...Ein couldn't help but smile and accept the offer when Fia shyly came over to him after their spar and asked if they would like to stay the night. Fia was the won elder after all, so her home was where they needed to go anyway for permission to enter the tree, so might as well kill to birds with one stone. Cierra decided she would "crash" would them all tonight as well, just like old times...except for Ledah that is. Ledah was a new one to the bunch.

Ein cast an eye over all of them, looking for differences. Besides Lina's different colors, her style of dress was still the same, and the girl's body finally decided to look more mature, catching up with Fia, who had always looked older than her, despite the opposite being true. Her childish voice seemed to stay mainly the same however, even if it did have a slightly richer tone to it. At nearly twenty nine, the girl still looked like a girl, eighteen at best, Ein would guess, if he didn't know her. Silverish bows graced her hair where black had done before, and, with the deep hue they held, worked well with the green.

Fia, who used to hold the monopoly on the color Lina now sported, had turned to a more rustic color, almost as if her dress had been a leaf that was now turning reddish brown in the fall. She still had the pristinely white sleeves and over vest he knew her for, although they where that odd brown now, and, as he stated before, slightly larger. Oh don't get him wrong, she wasn't fat. Just not as slimly formed as her earlier, battle-happy life had let her stay.

Cerria, the oldest of the group, seemed to be the one who had taken on Lina's age as well as her own. She didn't have any wrinkles, and Ein was sure that magic was at work there, but he spotted a hidden strand of deep grey here and there, which stuck out from the normal deep red. That was another thing, her hair had deepened in hue, as if she had lost some of her fire. Still, these where the only traits of age Ein could ascertain, besides the way she bore herself, as if she were tired of doing so… he cast an eye to Serene, looking her over to try and see her with new eyes, looking for some sign of age.

He failed miserably. He just couldn't see Serene as anything else than the person he had spent the last ten years with. She could look nothing but pristine in his eyes. Ein shook his head and looked around to see the three girls were staring back at him. They were doing the same thing he had been doing as they talked, analyzing him, comparing him to what they remembered. Ein didn't really think himself all that different. A bit thinner in the face maybe, a bit taller, maybe a bit more cut due to training, but that was it…the others of course, thought differently. They had fresh eyes on a being they had not seen in ten years, just like he was to them. What they saw as Ein turned to talk with Ledah was different from what he saw in them however. They saw what could only be described as an artist taking their friend and enhancing every feature he had, sculpting a statue of him to render him in a godly light…which probably wasn't far off, considering he was an angel anyway.

Ein had never really looked the part of being an angel before, he was more like a sprite than anything. Without wings, Ein had been a baby faced boy, who's adorable looks had won their hearts one by one. Ledah, Malice, both of them had had more of a…regal…air to them, they looked more fitting to be called a denizen of Asgard, even if you ignored the wings…it was something about the face, the way they walked and talked.

Now however, he looked more the part than even Ledah, who sat opposite him on a chair as Ein casually leaned back against the wall, sitting on a knot in the "tree" house they were all in. Stronger, leaner, faster and overall, more calm. Sure of himself. No longer was he just a boy who would fearfully yell into the night that it mattered not if he had the strength, or the ability, he would still do what his heart knew was right, regardless of the consequences. That boy had grown to this man who looked like he could calm any storm with a simple glance of his eyes. That was an angel in truth, even without the wings. Ledah looked more like Ein used to, a kind of boyish aura with a laidback, casual experience to mask his strength. A single feather fell from one of his wings as they watched the two angels' converse. Lina's eyes followed it's path to the floor.

"Ahem…excuse me Ein…"

Ein did not jerk his head up and turn to her, as one might expect, but he performed more of a escalator type move, looking back at Fia smoothly. A light smile faded into a normal calm as his eyes alighted upon Fia's own.

"What is it Fia?"

"Uhhh..well…you came to this town saying you needed to do something...but you never got around to…well…."

"Explaining myself huh? Yeah….it's a long and confusing story, and I'm not exactly sure about the details myself…if you ask me, it's utter nonsense, but Ledah here apparently knows all the stuff."

Hie head snapped towards Ledah, who coughed lightly, clearing his throat a bit as his eyes fixed upon the ground. Yep, it seemed like Ein and Ledah had almost switched roles. Another feather fell from Ledah's wings. Ein caught it before it hit the floor with a smooth move.

"Oii. Ledah, I know it's nearing the fall, but do you_** have**_ to just let yourself molt all other the place? You always did that…just molted wherever you went, but this isn't Asgard anymore…"

Ledah fixed Ein with a death glare.

"You expect me to downgrade myself to the point of bending down wherever I am to pick up my feathers?!"

"Nooooo…I expect you to at least preen yourself in the mornings though. Take some times to pick out the loose ones! You know how many darn feathers of yours we picked up ten years ago while chasing you around?"

"So that's how you followed me…"

"Enough already, can't you just tell everybody why I'm here for me? I'll be outside if anyone needs me…"

+---+

+---+

"So if I believe this shit, you're supposed to be my great great great great whatever the hell how many there are, grandfather?"

"Not yours, I can tell by looking at you that you're not one of mine. Your late wife and your daughter are of my line, you are more of a descendant in law."

"Oh how nice. What about Joe?"

"Joe? Oh, you mean Ceinra's grandfather? Yes. He looks like someone who might be…why…?

"…Cause' he's the father of my wife...I was testing you…"

"It's not a good test."

"I don't give a shit."

Ein sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. Dave watched as the muscle underneath the skin of that thin arm made it's presence known. Thin he may be, he was wiry as hell. Muscle must be five times as compressed as a normal dudes.

"You're supposed to be some kind of god?"

"_**Demi**_ god. I'm not a god, but I'm not an angel anymore….I'm somewhere in the high middles. Think of me as being an king without his throne if it helps."

"It don't help one shit."

Sighing, Ein glanced up at the ceiling.

'I'm sorry, but do you have turrets?" You keep repeating one action over an over, that which being saying the slang term for poo."

"What the hell?"

"…Forget I asked."

Dave cast his own eyes skyward, then his brain reminded him that, if he believed this bonehead, he might as well look straight, because god was right there in front of him…and god says poo, not shit like a man. Or some fancy word he guessed meant shit…what the hell was it again? Difacition?

"Soo….god. What the hell do you want from me?"

Ein let out a long breath through his nose. This was going to take a lot of patience form him. A _**whole**_ lot of patience.

"What do I want from you? I want to make your life better for your daughter and yourself, your father in law. I want to have you meet a couple of people who can help you bring yourself up to an honest living, together. I want you to take that poisonous, smoking metal stick you call a cigarette from your mouth for a few seconds and contemplate what I am trying to offer you."

Pulling the Kool from his mouth, Dave stared at Ein. Again with this fancy talk. He was like a friggin' priest...but wait, he was god, so wouldn't you expect him to be like one?

"Shut your flapping jaws for a second holy man. Can I see your wings again, for good measure? I still don't believe this crap you talking bout'."

Ein clenched his teeth together. This was one stubborn guy. Glancing skyward once more, Ein's mind screamed up at the heavens. _**Ursula, give me strength…**_ He spread his black wings put for the other man to see, taking the time to inspect them and deftly picking out a few feathers that looked loose. Chucking a few of them over to the other man, he said:

"Here, maybe if you take a few as a souvenir you'll stop thinking they're fake."

"Hey, I don't want your feathers, bird boy."

'Whatever..I'm going up stairs…"

"Why?!"

'Your daughter, the only one who believes me, is up there. Maybe I can convince her to see the light and change this life of hers. Then you may see.

+---+

"It's not that I believe yah, it's that I don't want to believe that this is all there really is…"

Ein sat on the floor in the dark room, watching the shadow of the girl in front of him, seeing the eyes reflect the lights from outside. She raised her arm and pointed to the small window in her room.

"This is a prefab, a two story apartment inside an apartment building. All the apartments are two stories here. The whole, huge building just houses our houses. This window…it's programmed to show what it looks like outside, but it's not really outside. That's why I said I can't open it to feel the air."

"…."

"You got to be either a real dunce or from another world if you don't know this stuff. I don't think you're a dunce though, so that only leaves the other option."

Ceinra looked at the angel in front of her. Truth be told, his skin shone slightly in the darkness, giving off it's own, soft light, but it was only visible in the total darkness like now. It allowed her to see all of him, just sitting there, looking at her. If he were a normal guy, he wouldn't even give her a second glance. You only describe someone who looks like his as beautiful, and beautiful people don't talk to fat, ghetto, white trash like her. His wings were almost perfectly still, but every once and awhile an edge would flop down, giving in to gravity before the boy would twist his mouth a bit and it would go straight again, or the whole thing would vibrate when Ceinra told him some fact the boy found astonishing, or infuriating. Right now, they rested at ease, the top most tips bent down to gravity and the whole image being that of an exhausted being.

"You're tired as shit, aren't you?"

Perking up, Ein looked her dead in the eyes, even though he could only see her shadow. She shivered lightly. That look could seriously give someone a fu-k-n-g heart attack.

"What makes you say that?"

"Your wings are all droopy-like."

Sighing, Ein's wings flopped down more prominently.

"I'm not really tired in body; it's my spirit that's tired. I'm sick of seeing this world suffer when it's so easy to heal the pain with just a little faith…something this world severely lacks. Sometimes I feel like there's something inside me that is as dead as a block of coal. It weighs me down and pains me, exhausts me, I just want to fly up to the highest mountain and scream out for the world to hear, to sent whatever power I have cascading don upon the earth, righteous anger of the gods to roast the evil away. Purify this broken world into the promised land it once was…that is all I want sometimes…other times I feel like I should just fly through cities, smashing through everything, just, wantonly destroying everything there is in my path, break the walls…"

Ceinra just sat there, taking it in.

'You could do that?"

"Of course! I could cause so much destruction in one day half this planet would be utterly toast. If not directly, indirectly. I could wash this garden in all it's tainted blood. That is my power."

"So why not do it…? There are about a trillion people who would love you for it, call you the return of their savior, that Armageddon has come and all that shit."

Ein closed his eyes and took a deep breath in, holding it there for a few seconds. Ceinra watched in interest as his weird weapons glowed slightly.

"Because I was not always the way I am now…I wasn't born a demi god."

"Ohh..?"

"I was born a human, or as we called ourselves back then, sprites. I died young, not even seven years old, of a heart disease. At that time, no one even knew heart diseases were possible, I had no chance. A bunch of holes in the walls of my heart, it was a wonder I lasted as long as I did…'

Ceinra may not show it, but she was an intelligent girl. A failure in school, but is you ask her about any topic that they teach in school at her age, and it was a near guarantee that she knew it. She just failed to try, and most of the time, was to high or otherwise intoxicated to care. A bunch of holes in a person's heart was a dead birth defect, it no longer happened, but when people had damaged hearts, it was easy to restore them or replace them…it was not a problem…but over two thousand years ago…forget it. You had that, you were as good as dead. She tilted her head, intrigued.

"Coming to the spirit world so soon in life granted me something not many get, the innocence of a child, a near sinless soul. I was deemed worthy to gain wings, and be reborn as an angel of Asgard. While I grew from a cherub to a more adult angel, I trained and finally was selected as one of the few who would gain a diviner, and become what is known as a Grim Angel…"

"Grim Angel? Diviner? There go those words again."

"A warrior angel holding a Diviner, tasked to fulfill the will of the gods. They lose something of theirs in the process though…I lost my wings. A diviner is one of these.."

Ein placed a hand upon Einherjar, brining Ceinra's attention to the glowing length of the weapon. Her eyes looked to the other two as well. Lorelei on his other side, and Scadi strapped to his back, on the side, away from his wings. She shook her head.

"So you go from human to angel to half god? What you do for all the promotions? Those crap faced priests doing something wrong?...And if you lost your wings how come they're still there?"

Ein's mouth showed how much he appreciated the "crap faced priests" comment, but Ceinra didn't offer a change in tone, and Ein didn't ask for one. He only continued his story.

"After becoming a Grim Angel I was tasked with my first duty by the magi, along with my partner and senior in battle, Ledah."

"Ledah now? Who's he?"

"If you're lucky, you may meet him one day. Our task was simple. Go to Heaven's Gate and actuate the retribution, the supposed will of the gods."

"You mean go and set off Armageddon on all our asses."

"….Basically put yes. But I didn't think it was right. Demons were attacking sprites, but that was not reason to destroy the sprites and the demons altogether, there had to be a better way, but I was told I was foolish, and dangerously close to defying the gods. Yet, after fighting a battle with a guardian of the protector for Riviera, the name of this land back then, she nearly killed me, or at least, she tried to by sending me to the place where all souls go when they die to be returned to the void…"

"You mean she sent you to hell?"

"No, she sent me beyond "hell", to the place all tainted souls of Asgard are destroyed and returned to nothingness…but my soul wouldn't shatter…her servants came to her…I was in pain, and I was still there…they deemed me pure and decided to give me another chance. They sealed my memories and sent me hurling towards Riviera."

Perking up at this, she looked at him, eyes scanning him about three times before she asked:

"So she tossed you from heaven like a piece of trash without you memories to go slam somewhere on the earth? Without wings?"

"Right…I actually hit a bunch of trees, breaking a lot of branches and hitting the ground right in front of two girls who were walking along the path. Scared the heck out of them, an unconscious guy falling from the sky."

Ceinra had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. A guy falling from the sky, unconscious, was something she saw almost every day, but then again, this was the time of flying person vehicles, planes, hover packs and all that, some unconscious dude falling wasn't hard to imagine, but back then…? Yeah, before planes, it would have scared the heck out of people.

"From there, I went through a series of adventures when I woke up…regaining my memories after making friends with the same girls I fell in front of and a couple others, decided for good Riviera was worth saving and that I didn't care if I had to defy the gods and all of Asgard to save the place, but I would…I fought demons, demons, more demons and still more demons until I finally ran into Ledah, my former partner, He was still trying to wreck Rivera without me, and wouldn't shake from his duty…he was the perfect puppet for the magi…he had lost his emotion when he got his diviner and could only see the mission, not everything else."

"So you got some emotionless robot dude?"

"…I suppose you could say that…we fought, and with the help of my friends, we over took him. I took Lorelei from him…he died not to much later…" *Here Ein lays a hand on the weapon, drawing Cienra's attention to the red spear.* " When we fought another person who believed herself to be a Grim Angel, we took her weapon too…although it wasn't a real diviner, it was so close to one…I used Orihalcum later on make a real one of it's kind…it's name was, and still is, Scadi." *Here Ein, of course, indicates the blue axe like weapon on his back.* "Defying the god's will turned out to be nothing but a guilt trip. It was the magi who were trying to use the angels to destroy Rivera and use the souls as power to become gods themselves…namely, one Magi, Hector was doing so, using souls to revive the "Sprite of Death." The child god of death whose sole purpose is to destroy, who was sealed away by her peaceful counter part, but kept alive for the simple reason that gods cannot destroy other gods, and that without the sprite of death, Seth, her peaceful counter part, Ursula, would also die. They even used one of my friends as a soul sacrifice, the false angel as well…that angered me to no end…"

At this, Ein's wings began to shake at the memory, although he himself stayed perfectly still. Ceinra watched them warily.

"Was it a girl…?"

At this, Ein looked up.

'Very perceptive. All my sprite travel companions were girls, oddly. I was the only male. Although I was not a sprite, this girl wasn't a sprite either…no she wasn't an angel either."Claimed Ein, for he had seen Ceinra open her mouth even in the dark.

"She was an Arc, a winged, sprite like race…and she was also your ancestor…She was the one I loved."

"So you did someone while you were fighting demons."

"That is such an ugly way to put it...but no. Once Seth was revived and the magi fused with her, becoming a powerful god, my sprite friends fell back a bit. The air was already too thick for sprites here, but they were powerful, and had lost a friend. They tried to fight, but were knocked out…it was me and the demon god Seth-rah. I…I passed judgment on him…in my rage at his summoning, what he was planning to do, who he had taken from me, I found the strength within me to solely take down a god. After his death, we escaped from the collapsing realm of his, and found ourselves in it's opposite. Ursula thanked me, even though she was going to soon die…she managed to do one favor to me as thanks for all I had done…she managed to catch a single soul that had flitted towards the place she had sent me, preventing it from entering the void."

"You mean she revived your girl."

"…To put it bluntly, yes. A god is a god after all. After that, I spent ten years traveling around the world, getting rid of the last of the demons with her."

"…Okay…still don't tell me how you got wings and you being godly like and all that…"

"I'm getting there, I'm getting there, I'm telling you an extremely short hand version of the story after all. After traveling, I found Ledah, or more like, he found me."

"I thought you said the dude died."

"He did, but he was revived…and I learned later that Ursual was still alive too, which meant that either Seth was till kicking, or there was another god of darkness hanging around somewhere…"

Ceinra looked at him full on, her brain finally registering what he was saying.

"You…"

"Right, apparently, when I defeated Seth-rah, all that power released didn't go to the void like it was supposed to. It hung around and deemed ME a worthy vessel. Stupid thing was an angel can't hold the power of a god in them. The power had been used, rebuilding the realm of the dark god and regenerating the dark progenitors before it decided it was time to return to it's master. I, apparently, had to do something quick, or die. I had to do the stupidest thing in my life."

"Run outside naked in circles screaming turkey baster at the top of your lungs while it's raining and you have a ferret's tail, dangling the ferret stuck to your ass crack?"

"Huh?!?"

"Sorry...I did that once when I was dead drunk and stoned so high I could walk on the tip of Mount Everest..."

"…………"

"Continue, continue."

"………Okay then….that did not give me a good visual…"

"Sorry to give the god man nightmares, get over it."

"….._**AS I WAS SAYING**_….I had to do the stupidest thing I had ever done, which was travel back to the realm of the dark god, all the way from heavens gate to there by the way, go into the triple strata and create a god and channel my power to it."

"…Wait…what? You had to go MAKE a god? Yeah, that _**is**_ stupid…but you did it?"

"Yes and No. I succeeded in making a god, miraculously, but I failed miserable at making it evil enough to be a proper god of darkness."

"…Your ass is too noble. That's why."

"…You know, it's funny, but Ledah said the exact same thing, in the exact same words over two thousand years ago..."

"I guess you were right about the part about me being lucky if I met him. I wanna meet him if that's the way he talks. No offense, but you're a bit to goodie two shoed to make me comfortable."

"Long story short, we fought, I got my tail flogged-"

"You got your ass handed to you by your own creation you mean."

"Whatever. He defeated me, and took my body and revamped it. He gave my body the strength to hold the power of a god, and then took the dark progenitors and destroyed them with a simple wave of his had, transferring their power to me. He then gave me back my wings and booted me from his realm like a fly."

"…and you defeated this thing…_**how**_ last time around?"

"I don't know how to explain it, but he was more powerful than the last god. Far more powerful. Even though I gave him the power I had, he ended up thousands of times stronger. I said I succeeded in making a god, I think I did it too well on the physical and not well enough on the emotional personality…"

"So that's how you end up being a half god thingie."

"Pretty much..."

"Got to be the stupidest story I have ever heard."

"Like it or lump it, it's my life."

"So tell me did you lay my great grandma ancestor before or after becoming a god?"

"Af….wait a second…WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING?!"

"Daaaaaayyyyuuumn, you don't have to get all touchy. What she look like…?"

Ein looked up at Ceinra. Still, in those eyes, he saw Serene, even if this life had marred the similarities.

"She looked like you."

"A fat ass?"

"…Would you stop calling yourself that? No. She had short, slightly longer than shoulder length deep royal blue hair that almost always got in her face when she fought, and sapphire eyes whose depth could lose myself in. She walked like a dancer from hard battle experience, but she was as slim like that china doll you have down stairs. She almost always tilter her head to the left when she was teasing you or smiling at a private joke. She may have come off tomboyish to others, but I knew it was just because she was tough. All that toughness and strength made her a formidable opponent in battle, she almost equaled me in skill…but outside of battle, that touch could become feather light and gentle…"

Ceinra held out both hand in a "Halt" gesture, stopping Ein short.

"Woah…woah, slow down there lover boy. She don't sound nothing like me. I'm not thin like that stick in the living room."

Ein closed his eyes and looked away from her, towards the door. His voice came back to her ears, soft and low.

"Is that all you heard? That she was thin? You have her eyes, and her hair, and don't you try to tell me you don't tilt your head to the left, I saw you do it earlier. You also have that toughness that she had, although you are more…slang oriented. Don't you tell me weight is all you see. If it bothers you so much, I can get rid of that for you, easy. A single snap of these fingers can make you start dropping sizes like moths dying in a bonfire."

He held out his hand almost threateningly. His thumb vibrating with the force it held against his index. Ceinra coolly looked at them.

"Then snap um then, maybe Dad and I'll believe you when we see that happen."

Ein narrowed his eyes.

"Something tells me you ain't gonna snap those fingers."

"It wouldn't teach you anything. You'd still eat, drink, think and breathe the same way. I'd rather have you willingly change your lifestyle so you can learn the difference. Sure, I can snap these fingers and you become some thin, veggie loving, super abstinent teen who belongs on a commercial for living above the influence, but that won't do you any good. I would just be abusing my power to suit a need, changing you in the process without your permission.

+---+ +---+

_**R F L**_ (Wait, _another_ one?! Yep.)

"…and Ein believes this nonsense?"

Ledah scratched the back of his neck nervously with his right hand. He shook his head.

"Well..I'm not so sure if he does..."

"He would be stupid if he did."

Ledah glared at the speaker, who happened to be one very fed up Arc named Serene.

"Hey! It's the god's will, I can't do anyhting about that."

"Is this like when you believed you were performing the will of the gods and nearly destroyed all of Rivera by actuating the retribution? Come on, that "god's will" stuff is overrated by now."

Ledah sent a death glare at her, but Serene simply stuck out her tounge. Ledah's response was to cast his eyes up to the heavens and mutter: "Hopeless..."

"Listen Ein nearly banished me with his sword when he heard it himself...thought I was some kind of imposter trying to fool him."

"I don't blame him, nor do I think "banishing" you is a bad idea right about now."

"Would you please be quiet and let me finish at least?!?"

Serene took a deep breath in before she closed her mouth and let her eyes cool to a smoldering temperature. Ledah turned around, reclaiming some of his old glory by acting indifferent to her stare and ruffling his wings slightly. Another feather fell from them. God, if Ein saw that, he would go nuts. It was something about seeing loose feathers of Ledah's that made him go bonkers...

"As I was saying before I was so rudely interupted, we need to go into the wolrd tree to get to the aquariums and then hitch a ride along heavens gate to et to it's alternate side before swinging by the maze of shadows."

Even Fia was growing tired of hearing this proposal from Ledah. However, her response was a bit more guarded than the other's.

"All so that Ein can go do soemthing improbable, like go make a god of death. So he doesn't..go boom like you said so humorlessly."

"Yes yes, go..."

"Don't even repeat it."

"....Sorry...Emotions still out of whack."

"I can see that."

"So, as I was saying."

"Go."

Ledah turned to looked at Fia. His face was slightly surprised.

"Excuse me?"

"I said go. Go ahead and fulfill the will of the gods if you will."

+----+

Cutting it short here, there yah go. I hope to get a review to tell me what you all think...I do have another story I'm working on , and I would like to know if anyone really wants me to continue this one, otherwise I'll just come back to it later when my other one is finished..I can handle two at once, but I want to know if I need too...


	7. Chapter Five

"One of these days, you are going to get yourself killed. Going between three stories, college and whatever else you've got to do."

Hey, hey, don't burn me, commend me, I'm giving a real effort here....actually, it's four stories...geh. This one's short, I have no idea right now for this, but I'm trying, neh? I know where it needs to go, but to put it in words and ship it out, no time, no inspiration...to work!

**_Chapter Five:_** Show and Tell

He couldn't sleep.

A symphony of different hums from all kinds of devices assualted his ears, letting him know that the very house was alive with electricity, flowing through all kinds of different devices. E in couldn't understand how the girl slept through it all, couldn't she hear it? The spark of the clocks as they counted away the seconds in electric pulses through clocked chips, the coursing power through the wires that lent the false window it's illusion, and ran the temperture, even as the temperture regulator itself hummed it's own tune. Her very bed humed, monitoring several different things at once and adjusting to fit her needs. A soft, steady tick from the security system kept his ears tuned to a razor sharp accuity.

Maybe this was why he never liked to stay in houses. They made to much noise, noise no one but he seemed to notice. No person alive was a hunter like he had been trained anymore. They lived in a world with blarring horns and noisy blaster fire, of humming machinery and electric pulses. No one would even hear it if he drew his blade in the noisiest fashion possible, or if he pulled back a box string to maximum tautness. Not one of them would be any the wiser if he raised his magic, which would always make a slight disturbance in the air, audiable to his hunters ears, and sent it blasting away into the distance.

For Ein, the night passed slowly, extremely so, and his mind flitted between a million and one things, all leading him nowhere as his thought processes dulled with lack of rest. Finally, near morning, he fell into a blissful sleep, which lasted for about two hours before an alram clock, blaring its farfare of beeps, cascaded down and hit him on the head, for Ceinra had smacked it away from herself. He rubbed his head and glared up at the false sun streaming through the computerized window. Brilliant. Just brilliant.

No, he did not mean the brightness of the light, he meant the situation. Brillant.

Rolling off the floor, he took a glance at the clock. It was six fifty nine, no, it had just turned seven o clock... and the alram went off with a surprisingly loud and shrill blare that made the demi go jump. A pillow flew from the bed where the girl was sleeping and hit the alarm dead in it's holo display output, knocking the thing off it's table, but still allowing it to blare it's harsh beeps. That was, until it hit the ground and fell slient.

Either that was some wicked aim, or the girl did this every day and didn't need to look where to throw the pillow. Ein took a stab at both. Ceinra groaned and litterall rolled out of her bed, hitting the floor with a quite solid impact that Ein likened to a boom rather than a slam. She muttered under her breath.

"I can't miss another friggin day if I don't want to get left back again for the umpteenth time....but I really don't want to go to school today..."

Yet still, acting as if the action cost her an extreme effort on her part to execute, she slowly got up, her sheet still clinging to her, and walked, zombie like, out of the room, presumably to head towards the bathroom. Ein raised his eyebrows at her actions, but decided to let her be and walked out of the room after her to go off and do something for his own benefit...

"Oh well, well, well, look who we have here! Miss Ceinra Arcsye, what a pleasure to finally see you in class again!"

The adressed girl rolled her eys and litterally droped herself behind a desk, who's terminal was currently under screen control like all the others. The desk shook a bit due to her violent entrance, but it showed no other sign of her "abuse".

A boy, who had walked in with her, drew attention to himself as he stood awkwardly at the door. What was he to do? He didn't belong here, but was he just going to leave this family member of his in this environment he knew nothing about?

"Well, kid, who are you, and whatcha' doing here?"

Ein blinked as he looked at the woman, a self proclaimed teacher of History. An idea struck him, brillant in it's simplicity. He pointed to Ceinra with a jerk of his thumb. Security, working both ways. It earned him a few good looks, but hey, they had never seen him, and the first time they see him, he's with Ceinra.

Still, since when did the girl need beef on her side? ...The kinda beef, if it could be even called beef, rose questions too. This pretty boy was only looking to get his face smashed in if he planned on protecting _her_.

**+--E--+**

Short for a better tomorrow. I'm very busy, I'm sorry. If you notice, I upload like mad for another story, which is my main focus at the moment...I am trying however...I am, but time, time is against me...review a bit and I'll update...I begin typing chapters for these stories on a review demand notice kind of thing...


	8. Chapter Six

_Benn too long since I've updated. I've been very busy with Negima: An Applied Approach, and as a result, the others have suffered. Now, I constantly have been updating the format of which I write, and my style, so this story, whose updates are staggered over a long period of time, looks very patchy...I really want to fix it, but ahh..._

_I won't ask for reviews this time, but they would be appreciated. ~Finalage_

**_+-RFL-+_**

**_Chapter Five: Depth of Will._**

**_+-RFL-+_**

(Let's go back in time a little, shall we?)

**_R F L_**

"This has got to be the stupidest thing I've done in my life."  
_"Oh, come on Ein, stop saying that. It's cool. You're going to create a god not to long from now…"__  
_"Ledah, if you don't want to get killed, I'd suggest you shut up."

Ein shook his head, putting his hand on Serene's shoulder. Sometimes, she had to just let things go. He pushed on ahead of them, looking around at the familiar area, the place beyond the grand tree, only now void of its protecting forces. He turned his vision to the long, empty canvass that lay above, the swirling platforms…they would have to climb it all, again.

"May I just interject again about how stupid all of this is?"  
"Yes you may Serene, but I can't guarantee that it will penetrate Ledah's head."

Ein lightly jumped between two platforms, and Serene followed not to close behind. Ledah didn't bother jumping though, he simply flew, but the effect was lost on his two companions…behind him, Lina, who had decided to tag along, brought up the rear.

Fia was too busy with her duties as the elder to come along, and she had to take care of their grandfather…but don't get her wrong, if she had a choice…she'd be right there along with her sister. Ceinra had decided to stay back, almost as if trying to prove something to Clyde…but if she was, Ein didn't notice, or comment upon it if he did.

Honestly, he hadn't even expected one of them to come at all, so to find Lina coming along boosted his spirits somewhat…at least if they ran into trouble, they'd have a cover fighter, a precaution that placated Serene at least.

"**How much further do we have to go?"****  
**"Lina, you've been up here before, you know exactly how much longer we have to go…"  
**'Not my fault if it seems longer than before…besides, exactly **_**how**_** many years ago was this that I last walked up here?"****  
**"Lina…just shut up and walk please…"  
**'Now, that's not very nice…Lina was just…bleh. Old habits die hard…I was just **_**asking**_**."**

Of course, her antics might drive Serene to the last strips of her patience. It wasn't that the girl was being truly overbearing, but more like the fact that Serene had set a limit to her patience, one that was heavily influenced by old wounds; or, in other words, their fights over one angel.

Lina jumped over the ledge, but her foot slipped on the other side, and, flailing, she nearly fell before Serene extended a quick hand, catching her and drawing the other girl close. Lina might have been annoying, but she wasn't so annoying that the Arc would let her fall…

Lina, shivering, spilled her thanks to the other, which Serene waved off before setting her right and continuing on…although, Serene was decidedly nicer to her after that, something Ein duly noted, but didn't comment on. You shouldn't hold ten year grudges after all…but he wouldn't step on a healing bruise…

**_R F L_**

Ein shook his head, looking about the classroom as the history teacher spouted pure nonsense from his mouth. He sat on the window sill next to Ceinra, watching her do anything but listen to the interactive session as she played some kind of game on her desk.

All he could tell is that the thing made his eyes hurt, and would have darn near given him a seizure if it weren't for the fact he was used to battle and flashing lights of his blade, spells consuming his peripheral vision…he could feel his lenses go in and out just trying to follow it, and he ended up having to rub his eyes.

She wasn't the only one not paying any attention, yet the teacher, whom Ein was absolutely sure was one hundred percent aware, didn't care, forging alone in his monotone as if her were trying to drive his students away.

Maybe he just wanted to hear himself talk. Yet Ein endured as he lay out his fare about how the rise of the human race went along, and finally a beep over an intercom let all know his time was up. He shouted over the instant din and rush, calling out cited pages for homework, but hardly anyone listened to him, of course.

Ein found himself swept up by the current as he followed his charge, going to the different classes, Math made his head spin, but he could understand anything graphical…it was just the numbers that got to him. Give him a graph, no matter how complex it may be, and he would be able to deal with it.

Maybe it reminded him of the technical points of s sword strike, but however the angel did it, he could. Science was another thing though. Anything biological had Ein's name on it…technology…ehh, not so much. Too bad technology permeated everything here.

Of course, after school, Ein looked back at the building in interest as they left, and Ceinra smacked him upside the head, almost having her hand chopped off for that one. Ein spun about like a top, literally, the wind tousled her hair.

"Oh…it's just you. Don't do that please. I thought something might be attacking me."  
_"The hell would attack you? You're a f*cking tank."__  
_"As you stated earlier, I don't look like one. Anything could try and attack you or me..."  
**"The kid ain't stupid, you should listen to him."**

Ein stepped forwards to block Ceinra's path and the path of a young man around her age. She drew a quick breath in annoyance at this, but her annoyance was more centered on the newcomer.

"_What do yah want, Carl?"__  
_**"Who, me? I wanna test your beef, that's all. Why you got him anyway? They finally putting you under house arrest or something?"**

Ein raised an eyebrow to that one, turning to look at Ceinra. Carl took this as a clue and charged at him, aiming a chop right for his neck, but Ein neatly ducked without turning around, his hands coming to grab the body and flip it over him, slamming him to the ground in one smooth movement. He put his boot on the other's neck for good measure.

"Please…don't try to attack my back. That's where my guard is _up_."

He let him go and turned back to the girl, but Carl spun back up, growling and sweeping out his foot for Ein's leg. Ein, sensing this boy wouldn't quit until he got his fill, let his foot hit against Ein's leg, doing absolutely nothing to upset his balance. Ein bent and grabbed his head, twisting to toss him into some bushes on the side.

"Have you had enough yet?"

Embarrassed, maybe, humiliated, perhaps, but had enough, never. Carl was a pride in hand to hand combat for his school, he was one who still stuck to the basics and believed guns could be rendered useless…this one though…what was up with him?

"**Fight me like a man you bast*rd."****  
**"Then attack me like one. Don't go behind me back."

Carl grit his teeth and assumed a stance, measuring his opponent. The man stood like he was used to carrying a weight around to swing. Those hands, without one, would be fast. The feet too, seemed to be used to attack, the way he handled a leg sweep without any effect. Carl lunged at him, striking out for the midsection, but Ein caught his foot and twisted it, forcing him to go with the flow, trying to get his face with the other foot, but Ein ducked.

Ein let him go easily and swept in with a hard elbow to the gut, sending him sprawling back, maybe three meters. The angel shook his head as Carl got up, reading himself again and charging back in. Ceinra watched; eyes quick as Ein blocked his punch and shot out his open palm to Carl's gut, forcing the air out of him.

Carl wasn't a small guy. He was at least six feet, and he weighed close to one eighty. To see him fly like a bird away from Ein when the angel punched him in the chest was a real message sender. The girl had been holding him in a kind of reverence up until then, a suspension of disbelief.

Now though, as she watched Ein wait until the last second, twisting his head and catching another punch from his opponent, his other hand stopping a knee short, that demi god became damn close to real. Ein gave Carl a hard head butt before forcing him away with just those two arms, sending him to the ground.

Still, Carl got up slowly, but he didn't attack this time, only bowed, a motion the other returned with surprise.

"**You fight well in hand to hand…is that your skill? You protect with that? I've never seen a body guard do that before." ****  
**"Weapons and hand to hand. You've had enough now, haven't you?"  
**"Oh hell no! I want more…just not today, not for the same reason."**

Ein didn't look back, but he spoke to Ceinra from where he was, as well as to the other in front of him.

"You're a kind of backseat friend to Ceinra, aren't you?"  
**"The hell…? What makes you say-"  
**"People don't just attack another person. Maybe violent, stupid ones, to prove their worth, but you're neither. You didn't attack me in spite, or to test me, you wanted to see if I could protect someone you hesitantly feel sympathetic for…you wanted to see if I was worthy or not…"  
**"…You're smarter than most."****  
**_"What? You telling me that bullshit is true?"  
_

Carl smiled at her, looking past Ein.

"**Consider me a kind of half friend. I kinda do look out for you…I feel sorry in a way…that's why I'm the one who always gives you your homework when you purposely leave it behind, like now."**

He handed a disc to Ein, who looked at it oddly. It was only after a near solid minute of the two talking did he come back to the world, remembering what it was. An information circle…thingie. It stored stuff on it, like homework, to be viewed later.

By the time he got back to his senses, Ceinra was ahead of him, and Carl was nowhere to be found.

_Leaving me behind, huh?__  
_

**+-E-+**

_Short and overdue, is that my motto now? No, I'm just getting rid of the residual stuff so I can focus. This stuff was written during my main story and thus the effort was split. Now I can focus more on a more singular way. These may be updated more frequently now…maybe. I can never tell. I hope so though. (If only I typed faster!)_

_Finalage out!_


End file.
